


Time to End

by tygermine



Series: Dramione Drabbles [12]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:29:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25426171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tygermine/pseuds/tygermine
Summary: Newt asks Hermione the hard questions.
Series: Dramione Drabbles [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1641019
Comments: 3
Kudos: 20
Collections: Hermione's Personal Library 2020





	Time to End

In the office of Care and Control of Magical Creatures hangs a portrait frame. The small plaque beneath it claims that it belongs to Newt Scamander, but in all the time Hermione has worked there, she’d never seen him.

In his place is a niffler. 

The little tyke has given endless entertainment for Hermione when she sits there late into the night drafting proposals and budgets. She often speaks to it, telling it of her ideas and plans. Some nights it’s the only ear she can bend when her proposals are deemed too radical to be passed. Other nights, when she plays with the necklace her mother gave her for her 21st birthday, the frame rattles as the niffler tries to get at it.

The thing is, the niffler never talks back.

It was another late night and Hermione was chatting to the niffler about her latest proposal.

“-and this way, we can give them protected status as well as voting rights based on their sentience.”

“That is very ambitious.”

Hermione squeaked in surprise and looked around. “Hello? Is anyone there?”

“Yes, I’m here. I didn’t mean to scare you?”

She whipped around looking for the other person, but she was alone in the office.

“Where are you? I am armed and I will use it.”

“Sorry. I’m here, in the corner.”

Hermione whispered the Lumos charm and waved her wand in the direction of the dark corner. The frame came to light and within it, a face she hadn’t seen outside of old textbooks.

“Mr Scamander?”

Newt smiled shyly and gave an awkward finger wave. “Just Newt. Mr Scamander is my brother.”

Hermione very seldomly found herself at a loss for words, but this right here was one for the books.

“Sorry I haven’t been around much,” Newt said, his voice soft with a kind tone to it. “I’m not one for people. But this little guy,” he pointed to the niffler perched on his shoulder, “was making quite a fuss, so I had to investigate. Do you make a habit of teasing him?”

“No?”

“Ah, right. I really like your idea. The one you were talking about earlier? Very ambitious. I worked on a similar proposal many years ago, but it was never adopted. I’m sure things are far more progressive these days.”

Hermione couldn’t stop the snort that escaped her at his statement.

Newt seemed to shrink into himself at her reaction. “Oh well. I guess things haven’t changed that much.”

The snort seemed to have pulled Hermione out of her stupor and she stepped closer to the portrait.

“From what I’ve seen, we keep repeating history and never learning or moving on from it. I can’t even tell you how many nights I’ve slept here trying to get something worthwhile passed.”

“Are you feeling the strain that comes with constant rejection?”

“You mean that knot that sits under my left shoulder blade?”

Newt nodded with a wince.

“So how did you do it?” Hermione whispered, almost scared of his answer.

“I didn’t. Not really. All I did was write a book or two, hoping people would educate themselves, but prejudices run deep, especially when it comes to something that doesn’t look like them at all. I’m not a lawmaker,” he sighed and looked wistfully past Hermione at something only he could see. “I learned that the hard way.”

“So you have no ideas that could help?”

Newt heaved his shoulders up to his ears then dropped them, his hands held palms up.

Hermione stood there, quietly examining the wizard who legend had made out to be this larger than life hero. He was just a man, wasn’t he? So painfully normal that she began to question the authenticity of his exploits.

“There are stories about you. About the amazing feats you performed and the creatures you saved and monsters you defeated. How true are they?”

With a grimace, Newt’s cheeks turned pink. “I didn’t plan on doing any of it, you know. I was just looking to save some poor creature and it spiralled out of control from there. I remember reading some of the articles that the Daily Prophet published at the time and they weren’t completely wrong, but they weren’t completely right either.”

Hermione nodded, understanding the feeling of being caught in a situation that one had little control over. Making decisions on the fly and hoping they were the right ones further down the line.

“So, if you had to do it again, would you have done anything differently?”

Newt pondered this for a while. “I’ve thought of that often, especially when someone I cared about got hurt or… it doesn’t matter. Hindsight always hurts and doesn’t accomplish anything. But I can tell you what I’ve taken from all of it.”

“Live each day like it’s my last?” Hermione tried really hard not to roll her eyes, but it happened anyway.

“Nothing as trite as that.” Newt smiled. “We’re given these lives to live, and everyone keeps telling us how to live them. Do this, do that. Live this way, live that way. Marry. Work.”

Hermione found herself nodding along to his words.

“It’s a secret that no one tells you until you’re dead because it’s so powerful that it could send the world into anarchy. But...uh…”

“Oh, sorry. Hermione. I’m Hermione Granger.” Hermione gave him a small salute and questioned her life choices after she’d realised what she’d done.

“Hermione, the secret is that we have the choice, you know. Choice gives us power over our lives. We can choose how we live them.”

“I… want to achieve something great. I can’t do that by not being here.”

Newt gave her a tight smile. “Are you sure about that?”

Hermione crossed her arms and looked down at the floor. When she looked up to respond, he had vanished.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
